Page 1 of Guardians

Earth Controlled Space, Sector 39

Rydaria

2149

A frigid gust of wind tore through Lexie Tolliver, easily penetrating her sweater, coat, and the blanket wrapped around her shoulders. She scooted closer to the fire, but whatever warmth it generated was lost in the blustery night. She shivered violently, her bones aching. It had been three days since she’d eaten anything but protein bars. She hadn’t slept well in weeks, and it would likely get worse before it got better.

“It’s not even winter yet,” Tara said from the other side of the fire. “How the hell are we going to survive?”

“Get up and move around. Motion is all that’s needed to keep you warm,” Eugene Babcock commented impatiently. He stood in the shadows beyond the fire’s light. His advice would have meant more if he hadn’t been wearing a down parka and mittens that cocooned half his body in warmth. “Sitting there complaining about how cold it is will not change the temperature or the wind.”

“Mind your own fucking business,” Tara snapped, gray eyes flashing in the moonlight. “I wasn’t talking to you.”

“And now you’re acting like a child.” Babcock crossed his arms over his narrow chest and glared back at her.

“This is the children ’s fire. The adult fires are down there.” She motioned to the other end of the double row of tents, one of many in the encampment.

The flimsy shelters shuddered and swayed as the wind howled through the surrounding trees. Lexie would be shocked if the tents were still standing come morning. The temporary structures weren’t designed for this sort of weather.

Babcock pivoted on the ball of his foot and stomped off in the direction Tara had indicated.

“I can’t stand that bastard,” Tara muttered, huddling deeper into her blanket. “My paychecks motivated me to put up with his condescending bullshit back on Earth. I’m not going to pretend to like him now.”

Tara’s hostility was understandable. Doctor Eugene Babcock and his colleagues were largely responsible for the current misery of Lexie and her friends. If it wasn’t for Babcock’s ruthless ambition and greed, this pathetic encampment wouldn’t exist, and Lexie and her friends would be on Earth, warm, safe, and well fed. Lexie sighed and stared into the flickering flames. The assessment wasn’t fair or accurate. Everyone in this encampment had been exiled because of their own actions.

Lexie, along with four hundred and sixty-seven other scientists, arrived on Rydaria three months ago. They’d been dumped here like garbage with provisions meant to last six months. That should have given them enough time to build cabins and figure out how to supply their basic needs. But two weeks into their exile the camp had been raided by a group of hybrids. The ruthless hybrids took their weapons, most of their food, and all their medical supplies. They also grabbed two cases filled with compact scanners, microscopes, and analyzers necessary to formulate organic compounds like nutritional supplements and medications. In other words, the scientists were royally screwed.

Retaliation wasn’t really an option. The hybrids outnumbered them nearly five to one, and because the hybrids had been here for three and a half years, they knew the planet much better than the new arrivals.

The first few weeks after the raid hadn’t been bad. The weather was warm and fish in the nearby stream had been plentiful. Hoping to prevent another attack, the camp inhabitants decided to build a perimeter fence rather than individual shelters. Lexie had been one of the few dissenting votes. She didn’t think the fence was necessary. The camp had nothing left worth stealing and she was desperate for privacy. Sharing a tent with five frustrated women wasn’t helping Lexie remain positive.

As Lexie feared, the fence took months rather than weeks, so the weather had turned cold by the time the barrier was completed. It rained incessantly now, and the fish must have moved out into deeper waters because she couldn’t remember the last time anyone caught one. Lexie lay in her sleeping bag each night cold and hungry, longing for Earth and the uncomplicated life she’d left behind.

“I know where they keep the tools,” Tara muttered as she stood up and skirted the fire. She sat down on a log closer to Lexie as she continued her rant. “I say we take an ax, a saw, and maybe one of the machetes.” Clearly, her thoughts were similar to Lexie’s. If they’d been allowed to build a cabin, this situation wouldn’t be so dire. “This ‘community’ is supposed to offer us protection and comradery. Instead, the leaders are hoarding supplies and dictating to the rest of us.”

As appealing as the idea was, Lexie shook her head. “They’d accuse us of stealing and chop off a hand or some barbaric shit.”

“Not if we give everything back as soon as our cabin is finished,” Tara argued.

Lexie shook her head again. “It wouldn’t matter. Babcock and his friends are on a power trip. I agree that we have to do something. But whatever we decide cannot involve those bastards.” A particularly bitter gust of wind cut right through Lexie’s clothing. She shivered violently as a miserable groan tore from her throat. God in heaven, what she’d give for the warmth of Africa right now.

Lexie was a conservation biologist who specialized in big cats. She’d just completed a five-year study of a lion pride in Tanzania and the book she’d written about the experience hit the New York Times Bestseller list. Hoping to capitalize on the notoriety, she applied for several prestigious positions. The one that most intrigued her was feline consultant for Nuevo Biotech. The innovative research and development lab was massive and extremely well-funded. The company had projects ranging from the study of single-celled organisms to human genetics. Their work with disease prevention in big cats was what caught Lexie’s attention. Better still, she would be working remotely so she wouldn’t need to move to their sprawling off-world headquarters.

She’d been offered the position a few weeks later and began submitting reports and attending videoconferences with various administrators and scientists from Nuevo. One of them had been Eugene Babcock. He was director of the super secretive Griffin Project. Most of the other scientists requested basic information, but Babcock always engaged her in in-depth discussions of feline biology and evolution. When his questions became more specific to genetic anomalies and adaptive mutations, Lexie could only think of one purpose for his interest. The Griffin Project was resequencing DNA, maybe even creating animal/human hybrids.

Strict laws regarding genetic manipulation had been passed by the World Medical Commission ninety years ago after an unethical lab created a group of grotesque mutants that broke free and went on a murderous rampage. Thousands were slaughtered in a matter of days as the mutants eluded the authorities. Lexie had seen images of the destruction, and it was truly horrific. The resulting ban was absolute, the penalties swift and severe.

Lexie hadn’t learned anything definitive about her employers in the weeks that followed, but she still questioned her involvement with Nuevo Biotech. If Babcock and his colleagues were breaking the law, she needed to run for the hills. That wasn’t what she’d done. She’d chosen prestige and financial security over integrity. She’d been determined to make a name for herself by the time she turned thirty. Well, she was only twenty-eight and it looked like she would spend the rest of her life on Rydaria.

A congested cough drew Lexie out of her retrospect. Bianca sat beside her, shivering even more violently than Lexie. Bianca was one of the geneticists that Lexie had corresponded with on a regular basis. Bianca had been part of the medical research team at Nuevo. The two women had liked each other immediately, but hadn’t met in person until the trial.

The trial, or the long series of trials, had lasted nearly two years. Everyone with even the most abstract association with the Griffin Project had been arrested and held without bail. Thanks to a group of whistleblowers, the people of Earth soon learned that Nuevo Biotech hadn’t just created hybrids, they’d also created savage shapeshifters.

The thought combined with the cold and Lexie shivered. What the Griffin Project had done was inexcusable and the scientists were treated accordingly. The jury found everyone guilty, and the judge sentenced the entire team to the same punishment as their victims—life on Rydaria. Many presumed that the hybrids would immediately kill their captors. Lexie was surprised that they hadn’t.

“Her cough is getting worse.” Tara sounded as worried as Lexie. Sharing a tent for the past three months had created a bond between the three women that felt almost familial. Lexie had always longed for a sister or sisters. Her one and only sibling was a brother who was six years older. They had never been close.

Lexie reached over and felt Bianca’s forehead. “You’re burning up. You need the antibiotics that were in the medical kit.” The medical kit that was stolen by the hybrids. Damn it. “We have to find out who has the kit and get it back.”

“Any idea how… we do that?” Bianca asked around a fit of coughing.

Tara and Lexie just looked at each other. Their camp was closer to the feline village, but wolf hybrids were ruthless. Wolves took what they wanted without thought or consideration for anyone else. Lions, on the other hand, liked to stalk their prey, watching and waiting for the perfect opportunity to ambush the unsuspecting. Either village could be responsible for the raid, but Lexie’s money was on the wolves.

“I’ll start with the cats,” Lexie decided. “I’ll propose a barter. There has to be something we have that they want.”

Tara scoffed softly as she poked the fire with a long stick. “We all know what they want. Are you willing to barter your body for antibiotics that they may or may not have?”

Lexie looked at Bianca’s pale face and compassion squeezed her heart. Tara was outspoken and opinionated. She could grate on people’s nerves after a while. Bianca was sweet. She never had an unkind word for anyone. She also had skills this camp desperately needed. If it hadn’t been for the hybrid raid, Bianca could have used the equipment to formulate an antibiotic from indigenous plants.

Decision made, Lexie said, “It’s worth a conversation.”

“Then I’m coming with you,” Tara insisted, sounding anything but enthused about the idea. “Even if they decide to keep us, it has to be better than staying here.”

“I don’t want you to go,” Bianca insisted, pausing for another round of rattling coughs. “It’s too dangerous.”

“It’s not up to you,” Tara said firmly. “We’re not going to wander around camp while you grow weaker and weaker. If the cats don’t have the kit, they likely know who does.”

“I agree. Besides…” Lexie took a deep breath and said what she’d been thinking for the past few days. “We’re not going to survive the winter unless one of the villages takes us in. The cats are the most likely to allow it, but we need to approach them carefully.”

Tara shook her head, her gaze shimmering with conflicting emotions. “The cats already offered to let us join their village—as slaves and whores. Do you honestly think their terms will change?”

“It doesn’t matter,” Lexie shot back. “Our conditions have changed. They’re our only hope. It’s time we admit it.”

They lapsed into tense silence after that, and Lexie’s mind drifted back to the day last week when one of the feline hybrids casually strolled into camp. His demeanor had been non-threatening, but his proposal had been anything but friendly. Still, Lexie couldn’t rid her mind of his image. He’d been tall and sleekly muscled with shaggy brown hair. His eyes were an intense silver-blue that made Lexie feel as if he could see all her secrets. There was nothing overtly feline about his rugged features, but his altered DNA was apparent in every move he made. He walked with the restrained strength of a prowling lion.

Dressed in jeans and a bulky sweater—no coat of any kind—he strolled to the center of camp as if he belonged there and simply began speaking. “I am known as Kane and I speak for the feline village. Anyone who did not directly participate in the experiments is invited to join our village.”

Dr. Babcock glared and took a step forward. “And those of us more directly involved will be left out here to starve?”

Kane stalked toward him, movements suddenly menacing. “If it were up to me, you would be dead already, but our leader decided to let Rydaria decide your fate.” He shifted his focus to the entire group as he reiterated, “Anyone directly involved in the experiments is not welcome in our village. There are no exceptions.”

Lexie looked around. Everyone in her tent, in fact all the people she socialized with, had been peripheral players in the Griffin Project. The physicians, nurses, and geneticists who had conducted the actual experiments moved off, clustering around Dr. Babcock. They spoke in urgent whispers, desperation clearly written on their faces. Lexie didn’t socialize with them, but simple compassion made her want to intervene. Common sense, however, kept her silent. It was obvious that the hybrid wasn’t finished speaking.

Kane turned his back on Dr. Babcock and his companions, dismissing them and proving that he didn’t consider them a threat. Eagerness rippled through the crowd as the hybrid refocused on the other humans. “Our community has strict rules, and you will abide by all of them. First and foremost, everyone works. If you don’t work, you don’t eat. It’s as simple as that.”

No one argued. They adopted a similar policy shortly after arriving on Rydaria. Life here was hard and everyone had to pull their weight or it negatively impacted the entire camp.

When no one responded, Kane continued his explanation. “You’ll perform the tasks assigned to you without argument. Unlike this camp, our village is not run by committee. The strongest member of our pride is our leader, and his word is law.” Kane paused as if to see if anyone would object. No one said a word. Starvation and frostbite made people surprisingly agreeable. “Lastly, every female must be claimed by one of our coalitions. Her mates will provide for and protect her. This is the only way females will be allowed beyond our gates.”

“Did you say mates? As in more than one?” someone in the shadows asked.

“What’s a coalition?”

Lexie could answer that one. “A coalition is a group of male lions who work and hunt together. In the wild it greatly increases their chances of survival.”

Kane’s shimmering gaze locked on her face, intent and assessing. “You know about lions?”

“It was my job to know,” she said simply.

“What if we don’t want more than one mate?” Tara objected. “What if we’re not ready for a mate at all?”

Other murmurs and whispered objections rippled through the crowd, but no one else addressed the hybrid directly.

Kane just stared at Lexie as if he couldn’t make his gaze shift from her face.

Apparently tired of being ignored, Tara went on, “You said our mates will protect us. Do you mean from the other hybrids or from the other people in your village? Will we be in danger if we accept your offer?”

He finally shook away whatever was holding him motionless. “The most dangerous place on this planet is right here,” he insisted. “There are over two thousand hybrids on this planet. Only sixteen are female.”

Lexie felt her jaw drop and quickly closed it. She’d known the gender ratio was disproportionate, but she’d had no idea it was that bad. Two thousand strong, healthy males and the vast majority had not had access to females for three and a half years. Kane wasn’t exaggerating. Fights and jealousy, perhaps even kidnappings were almost inevitable. Were the leaders on Earth doing anything to resolve this problem or had they washed their hands of the entire situation? Unfortunately, Lexie was pretty sure she knew the answer.

This also explained why Kane was insisting that the females bond with a coalition rather than one male. It wouldn’t completely solve the disparity, but it would make the situation better.

“We can protect our females,” Babcock insisted, his face tilted up haughtily.

“Really?” Kane mocked. “I easily climbed your fence and walked through your entire camp. No one thought to stop me or even question who I was and why I was here.” He shook his head like a disappointed parent. “None of you are ready for the challenges of this planet. The environment is much more hostile than you know.”

“How many are in each coalition?” Tara digressed. “All you’ve said is you live in small groups.”

“The average is three,” he explained. “There are several with only two and a few with four or more, but three seems to work best.”

“Three mates,” Tara muttered then shook her head. “We would be shared by three aggressive males?”

His chin lifted and annoyance gleamed in his eyes. Tara had clearly struck a nerve. “Do you have a better option? The females in our camp have adjusted to coalition life quite easily. Would you like to speak with one of them?”

“Don’t bother. This entire thing is ridiculous,” Tara decided. “We’ll keep to ourselves or you can assign us guards. There has to be another answer. I’m not signing up for a male harem.”

“The choice is yes or no.” His pale blue gaze swept the crowd, lingering on Lexie for a long, electric moment before moving on. “Aren’t you tired of being cold and hungry? Accept the protection of one of our coalitions and all your needs will be met.”

A tingle raced down Lexie’s spine and lodged between her legs. Her core clenched and her clit twitched, making her press her thighs together. She had needs all right, but at the moment she wasn’t thinking about food. She pictured Kane pressing her down into a warm, soft bed and urging her thighs wide. He pinned her arms above her head and stared deep into her eyes as his cock found the entrance to her body. Her inner muscles stretched around him, forced open by the unrelenting penetration. Suddenly others were there as well. Someone fed a cock into her mouth while the other bent to suck on her nipples. She’d never been with more than one man, but being shared, being completely overwhelmed was a frequent fantasy.

She dragged her gaze away from Kane’s handsome face and forced the fantasy from her mind. Were all the hybrids this intriguing or was there something special about Kane?

“I’m not going to spread my legs to fill my belly,” Tara insisted, sounding utterly incensed. “I’ll work just like the men. In fact, I’m a better worker than most of them.”

“Joining a work crew is not an option,” Kane stressed. “Females must become mates.”

“Never going to happen,” Tara volleyed.

Kane’s eyes narrowed, but one corner of his mouth lifted into a subtle smirk. “We’ll see if you still feel that way in a week or two.” With that parting shot, he shifted his attention back to Lexie. Their gazes locked and he moved closer, a lot closer.

Lexie refused to back up. She would not cower like a frightened schoolgirl with the entire camp watching.

“I know the faces of most of your companions,” he said as he reached her. “But I don’t know you.”

“I’m a consultant. I worked remotely,” she offered, but said nothing more.

“What’s your name?”

“It doesn’t matter,” she said softly, struggling to maintain eye contact. “Like Tara, I won’t trade my body for food.”

“Her name’s Lexie,” Tara provided with an annoyed look.

Lexie cringed, realizing that she’d said Tara’s name without realizing it. “We’d love to find another solution, but sexual servitude isn’t an option.”

“Sexual servitude?” The phrase made Kane chuckle. He leaned in and inhaled deeply as if to analyze her scent. “I’m talking about a committed relationship. You’re the one who is cheapening it.”

Awareness arched between them, an electric current that made Lexie shiver. Her breasts felt heavy, the nipples beading of their own volition. And her clit tingled as if begging for his touch.

“One week in my bed, Lexie, and you’ll become my willing slave,” he whispered, his warm breath teasing her ear.

“You’re an arrogant pig,” she insisted as her body ached. “I’d rather freeze to death.”

“We’ll see.” He nipped the side of her neck, dragging a startled cry from Lexie, then stepped back and disappeared into the trees.